10 Country and Americana Artists You Need to Know

It's time for another of our monthly round ups of the 10 Country and Americana Artists You Need to Know.

This month we're celebrating all the artists coming over to the UK to play C2C: Country to Country festival in March, leading the way with a country queen stepping up to take the throne who's written huge hits for Megan Moroney and Lily Rose, along with a UK country pop superstar in the making with the viral Country Girl Power anthem of the year and a singer who mashes up his love of country with the emo rock he grew up listening to.

All this and more as we dive into another of Holler's monthly roundups of our latest loves; a who's who of the most exciting prospects to begin leaving their mark on the country and Americana landscape.

Here's Holler's 10 New and Upcoming Country and Americana Artists You Need to Know for March 2025:

We know what you're thinking, "I thought this was supposed to be 10 Artists You Need To Know, not 10 artists we definitely already bloody know." But just in case there are still any country music lovers out there who are yet to fall head over heels for Mackenzie Carpenter's country charms we're leading the way with our favourite country queen this month.

Growing up in Hull, GA, a small town with a population of a little over 200 just outside of Athens, as the daughter of a preacher, singing in church and soaking up her brother's love of the country classics and Y2K country, Mackenzie Carpenter was given all the ingredients she needed to be a country songwriter from the get-go. All she needed to do was go and bake the pie.

"Being from an 'everybody knows everybody' type of town gave me a window into people's drama and reality early on," Mackenzie Carpenter says. "The stories I witnessed, lived and heard inspired me to start writing music."

It's what gives her peculiar form of heartbreak anthems their small town hairdresser’s convivial humour and down-to-earth conversational charm. Having flexed her songwriting muscles on songs like Megan Moroney’s ‘I’m Not Pretty,' ‘Indifferent’ and ‘28th of June,’ as well as Lily Rose’s number one smash 'Villain,' Mackenzie Carpenter has been drip feeding us a string of perfectly formed pop country singles for the last few years until she finally satiated us with her full-length debut, Hey Country Queen, at the beginning of March, proving once and for all that she’s one of the most exciting and cleverest country songwriters around right now.

She switches effortlessly from the playful country pop swagger of 'Dozen Red Flags' to the country clap-along 'Boots On' and the Miranda Lambert-esque country rocker 'Sound of a Heartbreak' into heartfelt big weepers like 'Only Girl' and 'The Other Side.' Whether she's hooking up for a little good old fashioned chirpsing with Midland on the steamy classic country viral duet, 'I Wish You Would' or nursing her wounds on the sweeping, orchestral break up anthem 'Red Wine Blue,' Mackenzie Carpenter pays homage to the country queens that paved the way for her to speak her mind, write her truth and have a hell of a lot of fun embracing her inner country queen along the way, capturing the essence of girlhood, heartbreak and love.

"My debut album Hey Country Queen is my way of introducing myself to all the country queens out there," she says. "I have drawn inspiration from the country queens that literally raised me, the ones that inspired me by showing me that being a successful female country artist was possible, and my country queen besties that I currently get to do life with. I hope people finish listening through this album and want to listen over and over again because they feel seen and related to. Most of all, I hope it leaves them believing that everything is gonna be all right."

"I definitely take pride in being a songwriter first," she says, explaining how she chooses between writing songs for herself and writing songs for other artists to sing. "I was always told it all starts with a song, so I think that has to be the foundation of an artist. It is truly a blessing to get to write for my own artistic expression and when other artists trust me with theirs. Where the song lands is up to the song, but somehow it always finds the right home."

We're blessed that 13 of those songs have found the perfect home in Mackenzie Carpenter's hands on Hey Country Queen. An instant country classic from one of modern country music's truly great songwriters.

Hey Country Queen is out now on Big Machine

Listen If You Like: Megan Moroney, Kacey Musgraves, Lauren Watkins

There is something joyfully unavoidable about the rise of UK country pop star Chanel Yates.

Her latest single, 'Big Girl Boots,' is one of those happy earworms that will put a big smile on your face every morning when you wake up to find it's still stuck in your head from the night before. An all-occasions girl power party anthem that fizzes and pops in all the right places, switching from a gently strummed heartfelt ballad to a finger clicking pop country clap-a-long about self-empowerment and finding the courage to walk away from a toxic relationship.

"It’s more than just a breakup song, it’s pretty much a mantra to live boldly," explains Chanel Yates about the song. "I wrote this track as a feel-good anthem for anyone who needs a little extra courage to tackle whatever life throws at them. Whether you’re picking yourself up after a tough breakup, finding the strength to leave a toxic relationship, chasing down a big dream, or just trying to survive the everyday chaos, this is your reminder pull on those big girl boots, be so brave and stand tall (even if you’re as short as me)."

Growing up in Sheffield, England, on the songwriting of Avril Lavigne, Alanis Morissette and Kacey Musgraves, she made her television debut on The Voice UK in 2021 but found herself being drawn towards country music as a safe space for her love of storytelling. 'Big Girl Boots' is the latest in a string of perfect country pop singles including 'Friend from Work' and 'Studio Apartment,' that's taken her from busking with her saxophone in her hometown to the O2 Arena in London with a sound that mixes the diaristic country pop of Taylor Swift or Dasha with a quintessentially British pop playfulness that sets her apart her from her Nashville contemporaries.

"I want my shows to feel like a safe space where everyone can be themselves no matter how crazy," she says. "It’s a judgement free zone. It’s like a besties sleepover or a house party, where we can just let loose and do things a little differently - like bringing line dancing to the UK!"

If anyone can make it happen, Chanel Yates can!

‘Big Girl Boots’ by Chanel Yates is out now

Listen If You Like: Dasha, Kelsea Ballerini, Taylor Swift

"I try to take my mistakes and throw 'em on a sheet of paper," Dom Ellis says when pushed to describe his sound. "A pluck of some strings and a few passionate belts. It’s more of a feeling that I pour out into a mic. At the end of the day my sound is what you feel deep inside or the goosebumps on your forearms. Emotion and feeling would be my sound."

Originally from the small town of Maurice in Louisiana, the 19-year-old singer left a world of "sugar cane fields, no television, and a love for the country scenery" behind and moved to Nashville armed with a guitar and a gravelly rasp in his voice that sounds like it's almost being ripped from his throat.

Growing up hearing Ray LaMontagne playing on his sister's radio, until his brother introduced him to Tyler Childers, he listened to Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Charley Pride, Keith Whitley and Lynard Skynard, but it was Childers who inspired his particular mix of raw and soulful country folk. After training as gymnast for four years as a teenager an unfortunate injury ended up being unexpectedly serendipitous for him when he picked up a guitar and fell in love with it during his recovery.

From the evocative 'What a Dream' to recent single 'Traveling Hearts' and the soul searching 'Addictions,' Dom Ellis has taken to songwriting with an effortless ease, committing to tape a soulful country folk sound that feels both contemporary and completely timeless.

'Traveling Hearts' by Dom Ellis is out now on Faithful Roots Entertainment

Listen If You Like: Jake Kohn, Sam Brown, Tyler Childers

"A little bit dad rock country but girly and fun," is how Janet Devlin hilariously, but perfectly accurately, describes her mix of tough-as-nails country rock, unflinchingly honest storytelling and no-fucks-given feminist attitude.

Born and raised in Gortin, County Tyrone, Devlin’s musical journey began when she finished fifth on The X Factor in 2011 after she nervously auditioned with a pin drop version of 'Your Song' as a 16-year-old, going on to release two pop albums, Running with Scissors in 2014 and Confessional in 2020, which hit the Billboard Top 100. Amidst touring alongside Russell Crowe and his band across Australia and Europe, Devlin travelled to the prestigious Blackbird Studio in Nashville to begin her third album as she leaned into her untapped love of country music.

"I grew up in the countryside of Ireland, total middle-of-nowhere vibes," she says. "I found that country music artists would sing a lot about the life I was living. I instantly found a home in it. The Irish also love a good story - I remember finding the same joy of a good book, inside of a good song. Country is the biggest genre in Ireland, and it makes sense because there’s so many of us that grew up in rural areas and resonate with it. My parents even met at a country music dance - lots of people to this day still do."

"Country music was the one genre that everyone in my family listened and agreed to, meaning that for every holiday, long car ride or Sunday morning radio in the kitchen, there was always country music playing," she says, admitting to growing up loving everything from rock and metal to bluegrass, pop and dance music and being "a little emo kid who loved my chemical romance" in her teens. "There was a lot of Garth Brooks, Hal Ketchum, Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton etc I even remember being 10 years old, riding my pony on the roads and using her feet as a metronome singing 'The River' by Garth Brooks to her!"

With so many young country artists breaking through and dominating the landscape at the moment, it's easy to forget that until Taylor Swift came along, country songs were almost always written by adults, about adults and for adults, and Janet Devlin admits it had always been her goal to go into country music when she hit her mid-twenties. In 2021, at the age of 26, she released her first country song 'Place Called Home,' and now she's pivoted fully into it with her latest album, Emotional Rodeo, a record that draws on everything from 70s rock to Irish trad, R&B and soulful country pop in a switch up that perfectly suits her diaristic, emotionally open and vulnerable songwriting.

Emotional Rodeo is out now on OK! Good Records. Janet Devlin performs at C2C festival in Berlin, Belfast and London in March and The Long Road Festival in August.

Listen If You Like: Alli Walker, Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson

Squarely pitched up somewhere around the contemporary country of Tucker Wetmore, Morgan Wallen and Kameron Marlowe, UK country artist Jake O'Neill also a softer side to his edginess that feels more in line with the reflective, laid-back musings of Brent Cobb at times.

Whatever it is, it's a formula that's working. Hailing from the small town Burscough in Lancashire, he's already opened for 49 Winchester and his latest single 'Taste of Us (One Shot)' feels like the one that could really put him on the map.

"There’s certainly not much going on," he says about the small town he calls home. "Hence why I wrote my song ‘Leave This Town.’ It’s a pretty rural place, surrounded by a lot of countryside. I’m very lucky to have grown up there, though. I have a lot of the same friends from when I was a kid, and me growing up in a place like that really helps me write."

"Growing up I had a lot of influences, not even necessarily country," he admits, giving a key to the powerful rockier side of his sound. "Some of my favourite bands as a teen were Kings of Leon, The Black Keys and Arctic Monkeys. Having these influences along with artists that family members introduced me to, including Elvis and Creedence Clearwater Revival, made my music taste quite vast."

It's a sound that sounds better the bigger it gets, turned up to 11 and being blasted. These are songs that deserve to fill stadiums, and it feels like only a matter of time before they are.

Taste Of Us (One Shot) is out now

Listen If You Like: Corey Kent, Kameron Marlowe, Graham Barham

Madonna, Britney, Kylie: Some pop stars are such household names they don't need a surname. Gareth might not be a household name quite yet, but he's already dropped his unneeded second name ready for when he is.

Hailing from the small town of Castlederg in Northern Ireland, he grew up on the classics - George Jones, Hank Williams Jr. and er, Meatloaf - but he was also surrounded by Irish Folk music, which he explains has a "raw, heartfelt way of telling stories" that resonated with him.

"Growing up in such a rural place, I was surrounded by two things," he says. "Family and storytelling. There’s a deep sense of heart and tradition in both and that’s shaped the way I write my songs. Pulling from life experiences and always coming from someplace real."

"My sound is where Irish Folk and Country meet," he says, explaining the influence that artists like Keith Urban and Luke Combs had on his own songwriting. "It’s got the storytelling and emotion of classic country but with melodies and rhythms that nod to my Irish roots. Blending these worlds is all I know. It’s really just Country music with a little bit of home."

Having moved to Nashville from Northern Ireland, he's had to pack up that little bit of home and take it with him, and his latest single 'Quiet In This House' is a gentle anthem for homesick dreamers everywhere.

Breaking through with his viral cover of 'Stick Season' and his Country Covers from Across the Pond, he has amassed over 25 million streams to date, and over the last year has been adding to his catalogue of country folk covers with his own burgeoning portfolio of originals, including two singles already this year, which led to him landing a publishing deal with BMG.

With a support slot on Kip Moore's Solitary Tracks tour confirmed and a new single 'Answered Prayer' on the way, he definitely won't be needing to worry about that second name for much longer.

Quiet in this House is out now on Walk Off Entertainment

Listen If You Like: Luke Combs, Keith Urban, Lady A

Country music has always found inspiration in the most unlikely places in order to innovate and UK based alternative country artist Pip Marsh's dark, introspective take on country pop owes its edge to the heart-on-its-sleeve foundations of emo.

Drawing his inspiration from the raw emotion of bands like Taking Back Sunday and Dashboard Confessional, his intimate, colourful storytelling is textbook country, but the sound palette he paints from is anything but.

"I remember listening to a lot of Ozzy and Black Sabbath with my mom when I was really young," he says about his childhood growing up in the small village of Church Aston in Shropshire. "As I got older, though, my taste in music became incredibly broad - if it sounded good, I liked it. I’ve never been shy about being proud of the music I love. When I was a teenager, around 14, I was all about Linkin Park, Good Charlotte, Sum 41, and Mötley Crüe; I was a proper emo kid. But I also recall going to my mom’s friend’s house, where she would get her hair done. They had this house that felt like a western movie lover’s dream, and they always played Tim McGraw and Kenny Rogers. I remember thinking it had such a cool vibe. My playlists were always a mix of random artists - everything from Busted to Kenny Chesney to Bring Me the Horizon. So, I guess it’s no surprise that I ended up where I am today."

It's a sound he calls "Yallternative," or just straight up Emo country for ease, and it mirrors a life that was split in two when he was a teenager.

"I’m a country boy through and through," he says. "My dad worked in agriculture, and my childhood was filled with riding horses, shooting stuff, climbing trees and all the other good stuff you’d expect from growing up in the countryside. But when I was 12, my parents divorced, and I found myself living on a council estate in Telford, a place originally built as an overspill for Birmingham. It was tough, and the change was a real culture shock for me. Looking back, I guess it’s no surprise that my musical journey mirrored that shift in my life. As an angry teenager, constantly bullied at my new school in a rough area, I discovered my love for emo, rock, metal and pop punk."

When it came to finding his unique sound, he found his way back to those days when his mom was getting her hair done and decided on mixing the two genres he loved the most. Two singles in and it seems like its a blend that country audiences are more than open to when he took to the road supporting Lakeview and Sam Palladio last year.

'Clumsy' is out now on LEGEND Recordings Nashville

Listen If You Like: Dylan Marlowe, HARDY, Austin Snell

If you can judge an artist by the company he keeps then Jack Browning is a fine one indeed. Having played shows with Willi Carlisle, Asleep At The Wheel, Henry Wagons, Todd Day Wait, The White Buffalo, Uncle Lucius, Jenny Don't & The Spurs and Stephen Wilson Jr., it's no surprise that Browning has quickly become the go-to choice for country folk artists from across the pond looking for a local lad to warm up the sometimes more reserved British audiences.

After coming to Holler's attention at the back end of 2023 with his debut album, Red Eye Radio, with a string of standalone singles that solidify his high standing in the British country folk scene. From the gentle, introspective country folk of 'High Hopes' to the jugband honky tonk of 'Champagne Taste' and stunning reading of Luke Bell's 'The Bullfighter,' it feels like Browning's vision of what British country music could be if it just tried hard enough is finally being fully realised.

"When people ask what I play, and I reply with 'country' it can cause a little confusion because of how broad the genre has become," he says. "But that's something that I love about it! I reckon you can't go far wrong if you think of my songs as Country and Blues, with all my influences showing; I like to think there's a little Merle, Waylon and Johnny thrown in amongst some Neil Young and The Eagles and then shaken together through my teenage and early-adulthood love of folks like Charley Crockett, Colter Wall and Tyler Childers."

Browning is also an accomplished fine artist and has sold and exhibited works around the world. In 2024, he sold a work at auction at the renowned Taos Art Museum’s Summer Gala and will exhibit his first solo show ever at Texas’ Western Gallery in 2025.

"It's funny, as I always figured I'd have to keep the two pretty separate," he says, explaining how he balances both artistic passions. "Then a couple years ago, I began to wonder what would happen if I painted the eminent figures on my playlist like the Old Masters would paint the big figures of their times. I never expected it but the two now go hand in hand, and they both seem to open doors for what I'm doing in both mediums, and I love that! I've even started putting prints on my merch table due to folks asking and I find that so cool."

"It also makes album art a little cheaper," he adds laughing. But Jack Browning's art is no laughing matter. We're serious about this. When it comes to country music this is the damned finest kind there is.

Jack Browning's latest single 'James Alley Blues' is out on March 14th on R&D Productions.

Listen If You Like: John R Miller, Vincent Neil Emerson, Benjamin Tod

Hailing from South Illinois, CeCe's musical roots where shaped by her parents and the small town she grew up in and she began performing in church, at local fairs at an early age, graduating to dive bars and splitter vans as she got older. She shot to fame with a 6th-place finish on season 2 of The X Factor USA when she was 21 as part of the Young Adults category, mentored by Demi Lovato, and quickly became a firm fan favourite on the show, ending it by picking up more social media followers than the season’s winner. It wasn't long before the audiences she was playing in front of outnumbered the local population of her small hometown.

With an almost uncategorizable genre defying sound that blends country with pop, rock, hip-hop, Americana and neo soul CeCe has always defied convention and those audiences are only going to get bigger still as she prepares to drop her forthcoming full-length project.

"It's my story from being a small town girl in Southern Illinois, growing up on a farm and then moving to LA," she says. That was the most crazy experience and it really developed the type of artist than I am, and I think that the album really displays that. It really is the journey for me. And I think that's both what this album symbolizes, but also what I want to symbolize as an artist. We are always in evolution. I'm probably not going to sound exactly the same five years from now, I'll continue to evolve and do different things. But at the core of it, this is me, and I think that you'll be able to hear that hopefully."

If she was hesitant about moving into the country music space to begin with, having come from a pop background, it's something she's dived headfirst into ever since she's seen the audience reaction to her singles so far, including latest single 'Dust,' the follow up to 'All Boots' and 'Cowboy Cry' from last year.

"I have always loved country music, so so much," she says. "But even as a kid, I used to think like, 'I'm too edgy for country.' That's what I always used to tell people. And it wasn't until I was older and braver that I was like, 'Maybe I'm not too edgy for country.' Maybe country can just move the hell over and let me in and let me do it my way, and the fact that people have welcomed me with open arms in the genre and embraced all the different things that I'm trying to do has been so cool. I was definitely expecting some pushback, but the fact that everybody thinks it's as cool as I do, that's just everything you could possibly want as an artist."

'Dust' is out now on Southland/Empire

Listen If You Like: Shaboozey, Angel White, Beyoncé

Whenever we listen to Kyle Daniel, the neighbours have to listen to Kyle Daniel too. Anyone that likes their country rock cranked up to 11 needs to get 'Kentucky Gold' on their turntable.

His full-length from last year is a heady blend of country and soulful southern rock that swaggers and grinds with a restlessness ferocity and an almost spiritual fervour. Kyle Daniel calls it "Working Man’s Country," because he makes blue collar music for rock clubs, honky-tonks and everywhere in between.

Drawing its influence from the southern rock and guitar greats of the '60s and '70s that he grew up listening to, at the centre of his sound is a storyteller who has cut his country teeth out on the road - playing everywhere from dive bars in Tennessee to the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London - building up his audience the old school way; by getting out in front of them and blowing them away.

Produced by industry veterans, including Jaren Johnston of The Cadillac Three, Brian Elmquist of The Lone Bellow and multi-instrumentalist Mike Krompass, Kentucky Gold is the perfect introduction into the world of Kyle Daniel. It features guest appearances from The Cadillac Three, Kendell Marvel, Sarah Zimmermann of Striking Matches and Maggie Rose, and co-writes with fellow genre-benders like Will Hoge and Clay Mills.

"The Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix and all of those in between that really made an impact during that time," he says. "I am from Bowling Green, KY and I attribute 90% of my sound to being from this area. With a rich music heritage, Bowling Green was once called 'Little Chicago.' Tons of different influences and styles surround this area and really give a melting pot of music, but it all comes from a very soulful driven force in this area."

"I'm just making my own music, trying to honor the sounds that shaped me as a kid," he explains. "It all comes from a real place. Once you try to force a certain sound, that's when you no longer sound like yourself. I just let the songs do what they want to do."

Kyle Daniel's latest single 'Can't Hold Me Back (feat. Rhiannon Hill)' is out now on Snakefarm

Listen If You Like: Blackberry Smoke, Cadillac Three, Steve Earle

Listen to a selection of songs from our 10 Artists You Need To Know on the playlist below.

For more of the monthly editions of Holler's 10 Artists You Need To Know, see below: